Each contact center is unique. Even within the same industry, there are vast differences in customer culture, and in the culture of the teams needed to support those customers. Take apparel and fashion, for example. Some brands cater to the young and hip, and some cater to people like me. Even those in the same industry or market can have differences in systems and support standards.
A successful contact center is able to attract, train, and retain teams who can handle all systems, and who also understand the perspective of the customers. In this sense, the agents are essentially another set of customers the business must serve; contact center employee satisfaction is just as important to a healthy business as the satisfaction of the core customer base.
Knowing who is calling is just as important as knowing why they are calling. When you have a proper alignment between your customers and your support teams, you reduce the friction in your customer interactions. The result is seen in CSAT, ESAT and other KPIs. The economic impact is realized through higher retention levels, for customers and for employees, which maximizes the ROI on dollars invested in marketing to acquire new customers, and on money and time spent recruiting and training new employees. The lifts in customer satisfaction and increased promoters lead to revenue growth.
If you support multiple contact center channels (voice, email, chat, etc.), keep in mind that your customer demographics, and therefore the customer culture, may change per channel. The reason for the interaction may also change with the channel. I’ve seen cases where the top driver for phone calls is consistently new orders, but chat is consistently returns…two very different types of interactions, with different expectations and outcomes. While some agents are exceptional and can seamlessly switch from voice to chat, and/or from sales to service, not all employees will be so well-rounded in their talents.
As a BPO contact center, our ability to understand and emulate each client’s culture is a specialty. At Contact Us, we start this process early. It is a focal point in implementation, evident in our operations, and measurable in our success.
